All the Difference
by RHHP Freak
Summary: Ten/Rose AU: "Donna, I'm fine. It's not as if the world is about to end just because one of my friends is going on a date!" "Yeah, but it's Rose."


**A/N:** I've always really enjoyed Ten/Rose human AU fics, so I thought I'd try to write one myself. I hope you enjoy and please leave a review :)

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 **All the Difference**

It could have been a night like any other. James Smith had just settled in for a night of takeout, crappy movies and too much alcohol for his own good, when the phone started ringing. He reached for it and, when seeing who was calling him, groaned in frustration. He hit the screen of his phone hard and greeted the caller with barely concealed irritation, "I'm fine."

"I didn't even say anything," Donna said, sounding a little offended.

"You didn't have to. For the past few days, you've been looking at me like I was just about to explode."

Donna sighed and James could imagine the look of pity on her face. "I'm just making sure you're not going to do anything stupid. You do sometimes run into stupid things."

"Oi! What kind of stupid things do you expect me to do? It's not as if the world is about to end. It's just one of my friends going on a date. Happens all the time. Millions of people are probably going on dates right now."

"Yeah, but it's _Rose_."

James sighed. Yes, the fact that it was Rose made all the difference. He had fallen for her the very moment they met. He had literally bumped into her at university, him busy trying to figure out a problem for his thesis, her being frazzled because she was almost late for her bus home. The crash as they collided was quite spectacular.

After apologizing profusely, they started talking. He had insisted on driving her home, after all it was the least he could do after making her miss her bus and the ride was spent in easy conversation all the way back to her place. They agreed to meet up sometime and many days were spent in cafés, museums, cinemas where they somehow always managed to get into trouble. It had not taken long for James to realize that he was falling hopelessly, head-over-heels in love with Rose Tyler.

The only problem was that she was already dating a guy called Mickey. James had met him a couple of times and found that he was an annoyingly decent guy who seemed to love Rose unconditionally. As the months passed by, James got somewhat used to the painful fact that he and Rose would never be anything but friends. There were a few girlfriends in that time, but none of them stayed for long. Apparently, he was not quite as good at hiding his feelings as he thought.

Then, one night, he had been woken up by the sound of frantic knocking on his door. When he had made himself presentable and opened the door, a teary Rose a been standing there. She mumbled something about breaking up with Mickey before bursting into tears and practically throwing herself into James's arms. He had ended up guiding her to the sofa, where, after soaking his shirt with her tears, she had fallen asleep, wrapped rightly in his arms.

It felt so incredibly wrong - after all, she had just broken up - but looking at her asleep, her head resting on his chest, he had fallen a little more in love with her and wanted nothing more than to hold her like this forever.

When she woke up, she had been embarrassed, a constant faint red tinge in her cheeks, shooting him shy smiles. They had spent the rest of the day together, eating ice cream, watching awful rom-coms, all the cliché things to do when heartbroken.

He had spent the past few months waiting. He had waited for her heart to heal, so he could finally - FINALLY! - ask her out. However, only a few days ago, she had walked into the café where she was meeting him and Donna for lunch, telling them about this guy she had met and how they were going out for dinner soon.

James could tell Donna was staring, gauging his reaction, but he had played the part of the supportive best friend to a t, despite the hollow, painful feeling in his chest.

Which was the reason why he had spent the past few days stocking up on alcohol. If he was to prevent himself from pacing a hole in the carpet wondering what was going on, on Rose's date, he would need to be drunk. Really, really drunk.

He glanced at the clock. The date had begun half an hour ago. They had probably just finished their starters. Was she laughing at something the guy had said? Were they holding hands? What if they got together? What if they got married?

Yeah, he was definitely going to need some of that alcohol soon...

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. "Donna, I have to go, my dinner has arrived."

"Fine. Just don't do anything stupid, okay Spaceman?"

"While going from the living room to the front door? You overestimate my power."

"We'll see."

James hung up and opened the door. However, once he saw who was standing there, his jaw dropped.

Rose was looking breathtakingly, heartstoppingly beautiful. Her short blonde hair had been styled to perfection (probably by Jackie) and the dress, well, that would be enough to fuel his day dreams for years.

"Rose, what are you doing here?" James asked, when he had regained his composure somewhat. "I thought you were on a date with that Adam guy?"

"I was. For about 15 minutes," she replied. "Then I snuck away. I don't think he's going to be that upset about it. When I left he was busy hitting on the waitress." James stared at her. "Look, can I come in? I don't fancy standing out here in the cold for much longer."

"Right, of course, sorry," James said. He followed her to the living room, before asking, "so, why did you leave? You were so excited about this. First date after Mickey and all."

"I was, but I realized that going on that date would be a huge waste of my time, because I knew it would never have worked out." She refused to look at him, her gaze focusing on her hands folded in her lap.

"What? Why not?"

"Because... I, em..." Rose bit her lip, her cheeks a faint shade of pink, "I'm in love with someone else."

James felt his stomach drop. In love. Rose was in love with someone. He certainly had not expected that answer. "Oh... you're in love," he said.

Rose nodded.

"Well, that's great. Really, really, really great..." he could not possibly have sounded less enthusiastic. In his head he had already started to run through a list of possible candidates: Jack and Jake (both of whom had always been fond of Rose) or maybe she had even fallen back in love with Mickey. The thought made his stomach twist.

"With you," Rose said. James's head shot up, eyes widening. "I'm in love with you, James. Have been for so long. I realized things would never work out with Adam, because I want to be with you."

"Wait, you're really..." Rose nodded, grinning at him. "With me?" Again, she nodded. A smile spread across his face. "Oh, that's brilliant! Fantastic! Molto bene!" And with that he leaned down to kiss her, giving into all of his repressed desires. Rose immediately returned the kiss with equal passion, one of her hands finding its way into his hair. The kiss continued until they were both completely out of breath, but they did not pull away, their foreheads resting against each other, quick breaths intermingling.

"In case it wasn't clear, Rose Tyler, I am completely, utterly, unreservedly in love with you too." James said softly.

Rose's eyes shone with unshed tears of happiness as she leaned in for a quick kiss, which turned into another... and another... and another... and to make a long story short, by the time James's dinner did arrive, most of Rose's lipstick was covering his face, his hair was sticking in pretty much every direction and his shirt was on inside out.

To give the deliveryman credit he did not laugh until after the door had closed behind him.


End file.
